the hawk in flames
by rspara
Summary: hawkeye has been waiting for years for her commander to notice her. not just as a friend or as a soldier, but as his love. (im sorry if i dont write alot... ill try to continue it and finish it someday...)
1. Chapter 1

Riza straightened up and stretched her arms above her head. Yawning, she turned away from the pistol she had been cleaning and looked at Roy. Her boss was fast asleep, head on his desk. A small line of drool connecting his mouth and the papers he was supposed to be filling out. Riza smiled and watched him sleep for a while.

This was the first time in months she had seen him completely relaxed. With all the hard work he had been doing lately, she had sometimes wondered if he ever slept at all. He is always like this when Ed is out in the field, worrying twice as much as he normally does. He really cares for those boys, whether he is willing to admit it or not.

Roy twitched, a strand of black hair falling into his face. Riza felt a warm glow in her heart. She knew she shouldn't love her commander the way she did, but looking at his peaceful face she knew she would fall for him again and again. Tenderly she reached out to brush away the stray hair.

"Riza…" Roy muttered softly, his eyes flickering but remaining shut. Her heart leaped into her throat, pounding hard. He sounded so gentle and caring, so _loving_ that tears sprung to her eyes. If only he would talk to her like that when he was awake. If only she meant something more to him than just a lieutenant.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Riza tried to forget what had happened that night. Whatever her heart said, life would go on. This was the way she had lived for years, pushing away her feelings, and hiding behind her indifferent mask. As much as she longed for him, she was a soldier and Roy was her commander. That was the way things had been between them from the day they had met. It was just fact of her life.

But it still hurt. Every day Roy talked to her, never guessing how deeply her feelings for him went. Every day he casually flirted with her, and her heart broke knowing that he didn't mean it.

Today is a new day, Riza thought to herself. Maybe I will finally be over him. _Or maybe,_ the traitorous part of her heart said, _he will finally love me back. _

Shaking her head at herself, Riza stretched out one hand and opened the door to Roy's office. The room looked the same as it had last night. There were piles of papers leaning against the sides of Roy's polished desk. The window in the back of the room was slightly open, light filtering through the dusty panes. And the chair she had pulled over last night was still there.

Today however, it was colonel Mustang sitting in it, not her.

"Hello sir," Riza said.

"Good morning Riza, was Mustang's reply. He looked up from the newspaper he had been reading to stare at her. "You're looking good today."

Ignoring Roy's casual compliment, Riza asked: "Sir, where are the others?"

Riza was not the only soldier that worked under Mustang. With her were Heymans Breda, Jean Havoc, Kain Fuery, and Valto Falman. Together those four added humor and life to an otherwise boring workday. They also, she noticed now that they were not there, eased some of the tension between her and Roy.

"Don't you remember Riza? I gave them the week off."

"Why, Sir? There is so much work to do."

"Well…" Roy said, his face taking on a slightly peevish look, "because you are so good at these kinds of things, I figured you would help me get it all done."

"Sir!" Riza said, exasperated. "I am your lieutenant, not your secretary."

"Well…" Roy said again, changing tactics, "it's a good opportunity for us to spend some time together, you know?" He grinned, not noticing the very slight blush that rose to Riza's face.

"Very funny sir." Riza said, trying to calm her heartbeat. How could Roy not notice what he was doing to her?

Two tense hours of paper shuffling later, (tense for her anyway, Roy seemed positively cheerful.) there was a loud knock on the door.

Riza jumped a little in her seat, and Roy looked up. He was just about to say something, but was cut off by the door creaking open. A winded and red-faced messenger stepped through the gap, panting hard.

"Colonel," he said, looking at Mustang and gasping for breath, "I have an important message for you."

"Yes?" Roy asked, standing up. "What is it?"

"It's the Elric brothers sir, they need your help."


	3. Chapter 3

(Author note: _I'm really sorry about this chapter….. I said I would have it by last week, but I was really busy and stuff. It's really not even a good chapter, more of a filler. ;-; sorry.)_

Roy's face went white, "What do you mean they need my help?"

"I don't know sir," the message boy said, panting hard, "The call got cut off before Major Elric could explain. I heard screaming in the background though." The boy stood by the door shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Thank you. You are dismissed." Roy said his voice slightly strained. The boy sighed with relief before giving a hasty "Yes sir" and leaving the office.

As soon as the door closed, Mustang turned to face Riza. "I'm going to help them." He said."

"It might be dangerous, sir" Riza replied, carefully keeping her voice calm.

"That's what it's for right?" Roy said, his voice rising. "Being an alchemist I mean. So you can help people, even if it _is_ dangerous."

Riza felt the familiar warm glow spreading its self through her chest. He was amazing, her Roy. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he would say something so unexpected, she would be left completely stunned. Maybe that's why she kept chasing him. Why she could never let him go.

Riza took a deep breath, smothering her emotions, and said: "Then let me come with you."

_A few hours later:_

To her surprise, Roy hadn't argued with her decision to come. He had just nodded his head and let her follow him out of his office.

Now, they were riding side by side through the gates of central, the atmosphere heavy with their silence.

Riza was the first to break it. "Sir, why horses? We would be faster in an automobile."

"The Elric brothers are at Winery's house." Roy replied, not even turning to look at her. "The road won't hold a car. Horses are the best way to get through."

Riza began to feel uneasy. She had been to the Rockbell's house before, and gad always been able to take a car. It shouldn't be any different this time. _Unless…._ She thought,_ unless the road was washed out when the river flooded. It would also explain why Full metal and his brother haven't returned to central yet. _ When they had left, it was supposed to be a quick trip to get Ed's automail fixed. But, they had been gone for three months. Riza's uneasiness intensified. If the road was that much of a problem, how were they supposed to make it?

Like he had read her thoughts, Roy turned and looked at her. "It's alright Riza, we'll make it." He said comfortingly.

"I wish I had your confidence, sir." Riza said, turning away from his gaze and focusing on the road ahead of her.

Whatever happens to us, I'll keep Roy safe. She silently promised to herself. We'll be ok.


	4. Chapter 4

(_AN: I know it's been waaaaaay too long since the last chapter. I was having some extreme writers block, had a lot of homework, had my gymnastics state meet, exc. I meant to have this chapter up a long time ago….. sorries)_

Compared to her expectations, the first half of their journey was pretty uneventful. She made some small talk with Roy while they were riding, but for the most part they were silent. The horses clopped along the road, their silky heads nodding in rhythm. The peaceful air around them was filled with the sounds of birds, singing happily and paying to attention to the two travelers.

_This is amazing. _Riza thought to herself, raising her head to look at the brilliant blue sky. _I've been spending so much time inside I almost forgot its midsummer. _She stared into the distance on the right of the path. The road they were following sat directly on the edge of a cliff, so she could see for miles around. The golden sunlight rested on the far away hills, giving the air a warm green-gold glow. The trees on the slope below her were positively basking in it, their leaves shining brightly. In the ravine at the bottom of the cliff, a small river cheerfully flowed on its way. The river ran over small rocks rocks, creating a nice babbling sound and sending up brilliant flashes of light.

Riza let the calm feeling comfort her. It was so peaceful that she almost forgot the reason for their journey. Almost, but not quite. And she knew that Roy had never, even for a second, forgotten the danger the Elric brothers were in.

Riza turned to look at her colonel, and saw she was right. Roy was staring straight ahead, his eyes never leaving the path. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his mouth was molded into a gentle frown. Even his glossy black hair had been effected. It hung darkly around his face, strands sticking to his sweat soaked cheeks.

It killed Riza to see him like this, it really did. However, she knew that he would not stop worrying until the brothers were safe.

Riza sighed and turned back to the view. To her eyes though, the peacefulness was gone.

After a few hours of riding in anxious silence, Riza saw something up ahead. Nudging her heels into her horse's flanks, she pulled away from Roy to take a look. As she got closer, she felt her heart sink.

It was even worse than she had imagined. For one hundred feet in front of her, the road was completely gone. To the right, the cliff was steeper than ever. To the left, what once had been a gentle hill was now a cliff just as steep as the one below. And there was no road to separate the two. The whole scene looked like an enormous being had taken a bite out of the mountain. (goddamnit Erin)

"This is bad" Riza said, calculating their chances of getting across. There were a few ledges of what might have been the road, but nothing big enough to take the weight of a horse. On foot, it wouldn't be much better. Most of the spaces between ledges were way to far to jump, and the sheer cliff looked almost impossible to climb.

"Well," Roy said, having caught back up with her. "You are certainly right about that."

Riza turned to look at him, surprised by the tone of his voice. He didn't sound angry, or even frustrated. He sounded absolutely calm. And the look on his face was one of pure determination.

"Sir!" Riza said, alarm flaring in her voice. "You are _NOT_ thinking of climbing across that."

"I don't see any other way to get across, do you?" Roy replied stonily.

"I cant let you do that, sir" Riza said, sighing. Roy had never been very brave. Most of the time, when faced with a hard decision, he would run away rather than take action. It was one of the qualities that make him different than the rest of the military dogs, that made him Roy. But looking at his face now made Riza's heart beat faster. If he really was serious about climbing across this cliff, there wasn't a lot she could do about it. Besides being a coward, Roy could be incredibly stubborn. Still, she had to try.

"Its my job to protect you Roy, whether you want me to or not."

"I know Riza, but it's my job to protect the Elric brothers, and I can't do that from this side of this goddamn cliff."

_Well, I tried. _ Riza thought.

"If you are insisting on putting your life at risk, then you at least have to let me help you." She said, adding some stubbornness of her own. Roy looked at her, tilting his head to the side.

"I never said you would stay here, in fact I kinda assumed that you would end up following me no matter what I say. That's what you normally do, just ignore my advice and put yourself at risk." Roy sighed and pushed a few sweaty strands of hair off his face. "I really hate it when you do that you know. It would kill me if you got hurt."

Riza looked down at her horse's mane. He was right, she supposed, she did have a tendency to put herself in dangerous situations. _Of course,_ she told herself, _everything dangerous I do in this job is all to keep the colonel from getting hurt. If only he could understand that._

"No sir, I would kill _me_ if you got hurt." Riza said, trying to put her thought into words, "I don't know if I could live without you."

Roy stared at Riza's downturned face long and hard. This side of the lieutenant was new to him; he had never seen her admit something as heartfelt as that before.

"Together then," Roy said. "We'll do this together."

Riza looked up. "Thank you." Was her only reply.

Roy shifted in his saddle, pulling his feet out of the stirrups. He slid to the ground, and led his tired horse off to the side of the narrow trail. Riza followed his lead, tying her horse's reins around a large rock. "I'll be back." She muttered under her breath, running her fingers down her horse's sweaty flank.

She turned, nodding to Roy, and moved to stand by the edge of the cliff. Roy came up behind her and lightly put his hand on her shoulder. "Lets do this." He said.


End file.
